Many retailers advertise their merchandise by posting photos and videos on Internet websites. Customers can browse through the sales items on display at those websites from their computers and can purchase whatever they desire over the Internet with a click of a button. More convenient than in store shopping, however, buying over the Internet does have drawbacks. Because a customer can not physically check out a sales item, she is unlikely to appreciate the unique product design or to get a feel of the dimensions of a sales item by looking at photos and videos. A cautious customer may require more persuasion than what photos and videos can provide. A frustrated customer may return a piece of merchandise purchased over the internet when he realizes it is not of a desired size or it looks quite different in real life than what is shown on the website. Different methods have been used to allow Internet users to get a sense of the true size or other features of the sales item. FIG. 1a shows an example of such methods.
In FIG. 1a, a photo 102 shows an image of a human hand 104 holding a digital camera 108. By demonstrating that the digital camera 108 can fit into the palm of the human hand 104, the photo 102 conveys to a viewer how small the digital camera 108 is. Other comparisons, such as using a standing human being, are frequently used as well to convey a rough sense of the real object. Viewers can perceive how large or small the item truly is but will not be able to gauge it precisely because the sizes of human hands or the heights of human beings vary widely. Sometimes a standard reference object, such as a ruler, is photographed together with an object. While a viewer can read the precise measurements of that object by referencing the ruler, such method differs little from labeling the object numerically with its geometric dimensions.
In-store shopping has the advantage of allowing customers to touch and feel the sales items that are on display. But it also has drawbacks of its own. It is difficult for a customer to find out how a product displayed in a store will fit at home after it has been purchased. For example, before a customer buys a piece of furniture for her home, she may want to make sure that the piece of furniture fits into her home environment. FIG. 1b illustrates the problem she might face. In FIG. 1b, a home environment 152 includes a sofa 154 and a chair 160. The customer wants to purchase a coffee table 158 that will not only fit into the space between the sofa 154 and the chair 160 but also match the existing décor. Normally, the customer can measure and write down the dimensions of the corner space before going to the store. Once she gets there she can compare the measurements of the coffee table 158 with what she has written down. For the rest, she can only rely on her memory to make sure that the color and the style of the coffee table 158 match those of the sofa 154 and chair 160.
Innovative methods are needed to allow a customer to enjoy in-store browsing experience while sitting in front of a computer or to bring her home environment with her while shopping in store.